Petraeus: No Intelligence on Bin Laden in Years

More than eight years after the 9/11 attacks, the United States still is unable to pinpoint Osama bin Laden's whereabouts, says Gen. David Petraeus.

Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, said on the "Charlie Rose Show" that  "al-Qaida has been diminished over the course of the past year in the central command area of responsibility, but clearly that it’s still is a very, very viable enemy even in Iraq, diminished, but still able to carry out horrific attacks on a periodic basis."

When Rose asked if U.S. advances in the Mideast make the apprehension of bin Laden more likely, Petraeus offered this honest assessment:

"Well, what would make that more likely is some hard intelligence. And I think it’s very well known that we haven’t had hard  intelligence on Osama bin Laden not just in months, but in years."

Petraeus told Rose that the lack of intelligence indicates that  bin Laden "has extraordinary operational security, that he’s gone real deep, if you will, in terms of hiding from the rest of mankind, basically, in very remote locations, presumably. And that’s why it takes him four weeks or more just to get a simple message out in the wake of the would-be Detroit attack."